London

Rihab Taha, who headed Iraq's biological weapons programme, is one product of the UK university system that the British government would sooner forget. But according to an investigation by the BBC, a scheme designed to keep similar individuals out of British universities may be failing.

The Voluntary Vetting Scheme was set up in 1994 after it was revealed that Taha spent five years as a postgraduate microbiologist at the University of East Anglia in Norwich before taking up her post in Iraq.

The 95 universities and centres of higher education that have signed up to the scheme take government advice on whether to accept students for certain courses, ranging from biology to computer science, from countries such as Iraq, Iran and Pakistan. The government has provided guidance on 600 students this year, and has asked institutions to refuse 24 applicants.

But an investigation by the Radio 4 current affairs programme File on 4, details of which were broadcast last week, revealed that many universities do not cooperate with the scheme. Of the 41 institutions with microbiology departments that replied to File on 4's survey, 12 said that they did not comply. Their reasons included too much paperwork and a lack of confidence in the system. Four universities said that they had never heard of the scheme.

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which runs the vetting scheme, says that it works well for a voluntary system. “We are not claiming that all universities cooperate, but 100% of those we consider of greatest concern have signed up,” says a spokesperson. A compulsory scheme — an option favoured by some members of parliament on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee — would be unlikely to catch many more people and would cost a lot more to administer, the spokesperson adds.